Social and Political Life in the Vijayanagara Empire (A.D. 1346 – A.D. 1646) v2.c24.s1.52

v2.c24.s1.52

The one great concern of the people was the construction of tanks for agricultural purposes. The activities of all classes of people form a significant chapter in the agrarian history of the times, incidentally adding particular interest to the subject from the point of view of their corporate life. The mahājanas of Maḷavūr alias Rājēndra-siṁha-chaturvēdimaṅgalam and Kumāra Cheṭṭiyār, in about A. D. 1060, granted certain lands (specified) to Malli Gauḍa of Appi-ūr, son of Mādi Gauḍa, below the tank which he had constructed in the village.¹ The thousand (Brahmans) of the Kuppaṭūr agrahāra, uniting, in A. D. 1071, gave to the Koṇḍeya-taḷa-prahāri, Gaṇḍara Dēva Seṭṭi, who had constructed a new tank, and formed new rice-fields cutting down forests, one matta of rice-land under the tank, according to the Kachchavi pole.² The mahā-prabhus and nāḷ-gauḍas of Halukūr, who had gained celebrity for their charity, constructed tanks, built temples, and gave shelter to refugees. The inscription dated A. D. 1177 which gives us this information, tells us that in the presence of all the subjects and farmers of Halukūr, the Mahā-prabhu Narasiṅga Gauḍa, along with three other Gauḍas (named), gave a religious significance to their deeds, by granting specified land to Chikkakavi-jīya of the Lākuḷāgama-samaya of the Kālamukha sect, washing his feet at the time of the moon's eclipse.³